Vik Muniz Portrays Vineyards
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Vik Muniz, the Brazilian-born artist is one of the most sought-after contemporary photographers. His works have been exhibited in the most prestigious institutions across the world. His images are often complex and combine different techniques, continuously rVik Muniz Portrays Vineyards
Vik Muniz, the Brazilian-born artist is one of the most sought-after contemporary photographers. His works have been exhibited in the most prestigious institutions across the world. His images are often complex and combine different techniques, continuously reinventing the possibilities of composition. We asked him a few questions about his new project: a series of works in collaboration with a luxury brand.Why did you decide to do this collaboration?The idea of meeting new people — people working and specializing in other areas — is very important to me. I am very drawn to things that I don’t know. I am not good at anything, but I am a very curious person. So when I met Frederic Panaiotis, Ruinart’s cellar master, we immediately clicked — it’s great to meet people who know what they are talking about. He knows all about botany and nature. He knows what vine a leaf is from just by looking at it. I saw that I had access to a lot of knowledge and this was very inspiring. On top of that, Ruinart was the champagne I chose for my wedding with my wife Malu.Had you ever worked with a champagne brand before? What interested you about Ruinart?I had one previous experience of creating a work that was used on a bottle of champagne and on a case. The collaboration with Ruinart was different in the sense that they asked me to create artworks to show in exhibitions and events like art festivals and art fairs. So I was totally free to give my vision of the relationship between man and nature. This freedom is very important to me.Most artists work on the bottle or the box, but your work was focused on the vineyards, why?The concept for Ruinart developed quite organically from my interactions with Frederic Panaiotis and my experience in the vineyards. In fact, the idea was already in my mind because I have been passionate about trees and their morphology for a long time. So I wanted to photograph those shapes. For me, vines are like smaller versions of the trees I was interested in. For this project I was particularly fascinated by vines whose shapes offer some sort of narrative. Their gestures remind me of the Japanese dance called Butoh.What technique did you use? At first sight it’s difficult to say whether it’s a photo or a drawing.I first photographed the vines I found the most striking and then I used organic and mineral elements such as wood and charcoal to recreate them, like when you compose a mosaic. I also draw on some of them to add shadows and depth. I photographed the result to produce the final works, that which are in fact photographs.The size of the works is impressive. How did you come up with the idea of creating these huge canvases?In essence, I have always been a mosaic artist. The greatest mosaics ever made display an acute discernment about the relationship between the parts and the image as a whole. There has to be a certain amount of discrepancy, of disconnection between the two things. So I decided to play with the scale and make the viewer see something from a distance and something else when they get closer. I like this play with sensations and meaning.What did you discover at Ruinart? Any surprises in the technique or craftmanship?Champagne is a region that is quite far north, quite cold, and quite difficult, with poor soils. And this is basically where you get the best grapes. I liked this paradox. If you were to make champagne in rich soils, it wouldn’t be as good as the one we get in the poor soils. That adversity makes better fruit and better wines. So my challenge was to capture this creative tension that takes us from adversity into wonder.Do you see links with your own work?One thing about São Paulo, the city where I was born, is that the trees there bloom more than the trees in Rio. I asked somebody: Why is that so? He said, “The trees in São Paulo are paranoid. They suffer from excessive pollution.” Whenever a life form is suspicious, and feels endangered, it starts to produce more flowers and better fruits. I have children and am very careful not to give them too much. I am always making the mistake, though. Sometimes, scarcity is what makes you do things. And this is relevant for my work too.This column appears in the May 2019 edition of BlouinShop. Subscribe at www.blouinsubscriptions.comhttps://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin Read more